Coronavirus in Kitsap: At 104, outlasting two worldwide pandemics
Editor s note: On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared that the spread of COVID-19 had become a pandemic.The Kitsap Sun is marking that anniversary with a series of stories looking at how people have been affected a year later.
Phyllis Carlson celebrated her 104th birthday at Life Care Center in Port Orchard last May, watching a socially distanced parade put on in her honor behind the windows of the nursing home during the early months of the pandemic.
In a couple of months, she ll celebrate 105.
The Kitsap Sun caught up with Carlson last spring during a birthday celebration, months before the virus began ravaging Kitsap nursing homes and before big waves of illness preceded the deaths of 89 of the county s residents, many over the age of 80.